Outdoors

ARLINGTON, Va. — Trout Unlimited welcomed the passage of an amendment to the House Agriculture Appropriations bill that would bar the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from using federal funds to approve any application from a company for the production of genetically engineered salmon.

The amendment, offered by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, was voted on Wednesday evening.

The FDA is currently considering a permit application by AquaBounty Technologies Inc. that would make genetically modified Atlantic salmon the first genetically engineered animal approved for human consumption. The modified salmon, known as AquAdvantage, are designed to grow twice as fast as conventional farmed Atlantic salmon, according to a press release from Trout Unlimited.

Trout Unlimited is concerned about the risks that genetically altered salmon pose to wild salmon populations through competition or interbreeding should they escape confinement or be released into the wild. The group concerned that the FDA is moving through its decision-making process without adequate environmental analysis and involvement by the agencies that manage salmon fisheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service.

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“Many wild salmon populations, including wild Atlantic salmon in Maine, are listed as threatened or endangered species and cannot stand additional new stressors,” said Keith Curley, TU’s Director of Government Affairs. “This amendment would prevent the FDA from putting wild salmon at unnecessary risk of competition and interbreeding from genetically modified salmon.”

The House Agriculture Appropriations bill, H.R. 2112, was approved on Thursday. The bill will move to the U.S. Senate.